Chapter Seventy One: I Can’t Be Bought

Andrei had truly expected this to be a quick stop en route to dinner at the best restaurant in the city. He’d assumed Illyra would quickly select one of the most expensive necklaces in the store: the looped rope of diamonds, the diadem of sapphires, the emerald choker that cost the equivalent of nine hundred thousand dollars. But an hour later, she still hadn’t found a necklace she wanted.

“Six million rubles?” she said now, staring down incredulously at the ropes of diamonds patiently displayed by the portly jeweler. “How much is that in dollars?”

He told her, and her jaw dropped. Then she burst into laughter. “What a waste!” She glanced at Andrei. “I won’t let you spend your money that way. Might as well set it on fire.”

He didn’t have nearly the same patience as the jeweler. “Money isn’t a problem,” he said tightly. “I have more than I could spend in a lifetime.”

“Lucky you.”

“I mean it. After you make a certain amount, money is just a way to keep score.”

“You could always donate t